July 3, 2011
Letter to The Nation
There is a solution to the Thai-Cambodian conflict over the Phra Viharn/Preah Vihear temple that is so simple I am surprised nobody but me has thought of it.
I understand it, this is a Hindu temple. To me it is very weird for Buddhists to be fighting over a Hindu temple. Especially since Buddhists aren't supposed to fight at all. [KI-Media Note: The author of this ludicrous letter should learn more about Cambodia, Preah Vihear temple is not Hindu, but Khmer. It was built by Khmer ancestors before Siam even existed on the earth.]
If it's a Hindu temple, the Hindus should be running it. The Thais and Cambodians should ask the Indian government to send over some qualified Hindu priests to take charge of it. The temple and the disputed territory that surrounds it could be turned into an independent country - a theocratic mini-state, like Vatican City. They could call it Viharnia (in Thai), or Vihearnia (in Cambodian). The priests would administer it, and charge admission to the tourists.
To compensate the Thai and Cambodian governments for their loss of sovereignty, Viharnia would give them a percentage of its tourism income. Part of the revenue derived from tourists who drive in from the Thai side would go to Thailand. Part of the revenue derived from those adventurous tourists who climb up the cliff from the Cambodian side would go to Cambodia.
I understand that Phra Viharn is a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. While I personally am a Presbyterian, I am under the impression that both the Hindus and the Buddhists revere Shiva. If I believed in Shiva and gave the matter a little thought, I should think that Shiva would be very angry that his temple has fallen into such disrepair and that the Thais and Cambodians are quarrelling over it. He might strike them down with his thunderbolt or something.
So the priests of Viharnia should rebuild the temple, restore it to its former glory, re-consecrate it from the years of quarrelling, and regularly perform whatever ceremonies and rituals Shiva requires. He would then be pleased and would bless both countries. That is what I would think if I believed in Shiva.
I call this solution the Beasley Plan, and I recommend it to both countries. But I am sure they will both reject it. This is because, deep down, they don't really believe in religion of any kind. All they want is money, and the only thing they believe in is an infantile nationalism. If they want to prove me wrong, let them adopt my plan.
Constance Beasley
Bangkok
24 comments:
កាលដើមឡើយខ្មែរយើងគោរពព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនា។
Constance Beasley: your proposition is rejected, not because of both country, but because of your silly proposition yourself.
You should try your proposition for Kashmir, for example, give this land to England, to see if someone else have comment about your silly plan.
The name is Prasat Preah Vihear
Not Hind Temple, because the Temple built by the Khmer ancestors for the Khmer people and not for Thai.
Hindu is just a religion and also a part of the Khmer's believe.
This guy gives suggestion without knowledge of history. You call it Hindu temple, we are Khmer, builder called it Khmer Preah Vihear, we used its as Hindu temple when we were Hindu but now we convert to Buddhism after 12th century but many of us still remain some Hindu ideologies. Our ancestor built it and give to us, even thought we did not use it mainly as religion center any more but it is still legally ours. We still respect part of Hindu and still respect our ancestor works. We are not thief, why do we give it to outsider?
incredible, how naive and idiot the author point of view..
why you jump on every ass?
LOL
Khmer should care more about the territory they loose to YOUN Hanoi.
You all play Hun Sens game instead.
Why so stupid?
TO: Constance Beasley
Bangkok
There's no such word 'Phra Viharn' it is so stupid, it's 'Preah Vihear'. You are corrected, Preah Vihear temple was built by Khmer ancestors before Siam (Thai) existed, so it is 'Preah Vihear' khmer temple and also Thailand formerly Khmer territories.
Black-Khmer
Idiots exist everywhere...this is one of those!
The Art of Lies: 1/2
If it's meant as a tongue in cheek thing, this proposal is fine. No harm done. But, seriously one suspects the writer is another gullible victim of Thailand's propaganda machine, to put it kindly.
That most of the international press and media keep referring to the Preah Vihear temple as "the Hindu temple" is by itself an evidence of one party's gross manipulation and distortion of history, and of the naivety and folly of those bystanders who let themselves and Cambodia down by failing to engage their critical faculty or delve into the history of the subject in question.
Now why "Kao Phra Viharn" to Thai public and "Hindu temple" to international audience? Because both references and descriptive terms are an important duel mechanism in that it denies or repudiates a country's historical entity and roots (Cambodia's heritage) whilst at the same time legitimises, or at least, leverages another country's otherwise dubious claim to it (Thailand) by giving over the impression that the temple's dispute has this religious character implied in it rather than any other assumptions regarding its origins, ownership or location; issues which the Thai camp has difficulties overcoming.
Further, the religious character implied in the appellation "Hindu" also conveys to an unsuspecting mind an ideal of peace, friendship and sharing; concepts that are entirely expedient to a party that secretly or subconsciously covets the rightful property of another party. One can also find parallel between this choice of wording and references within the Thai press media to UNESCO or the WHC as forums of peace and culture.
A week after the Temple had been inscribed as a World Heritage Site, the Thai camp had, through its raw military power and aggression, done as much as it could to force UNESCO to reconsider its stance on the listing of the site; a ploy that must have worked given UNESCO's subsequent reported postponement of Cambodia's management proposal, whereas the severely derelict physical condition of the Temple itself is desperately crying out for repair and restoration. The recent fighting earlier this year further damaged the ruins, yet the Thai delegation in Paris last week had the temerity to object to Cambodia's draft proposal containing words such as 'repair' and 'damages' or 'restoration'; terms that would implicate the Thai military's role in the destruction of the site.
The Art of Lies 2/2
With the advance of today's technology, it will not be difficult to find ways to transport visitors to the Temple from either side of the mountain. The only obstacle so far has been the Thais' petulant refusal to leave the Temple and Cambodia alone to get on with developing it into a leading tourist attraction that its history, splendour and spirit deserves by raising endless objections.
Just a thought: if the Thais succeed in getting Preah Vihear jointly developed or even managed by a theocratic authority with proceeds from tourist revenue shared between the 2 countries, might they be given incentive to propose similar schemes for anything else that Cambodia now has like Siem Reap or Angkor Complex?
Not that Thai businesses have not been milking much of the tourist revenue out of those attractions already. But, of course these other attractions are inside Cambodia, and Prasat Preah Vihear isn't? It's immaterial that Angkor Wat is a 'Hindu' temple or the Bayon was built by a Brahman-Buddhist Khmer king (Jayavarman 7th)?
And while we are on the subject of location, why have the Thais been so opposed to allowing independent inspectors or observers into the so-called 'disputed' zone? How will the rest of the world learn what the facts are if you keep them off-limit to external observers and physically exclude them from verification process?
Ah, I haven't overlooked the same requirement in the east at all, and Cambodia has nothing to lose by adhering to transparency.
This author need to be more educated about Khmer history. Preah vihear is not a Hindu temple that was built by the Hindu people. Preah vihear temple was built by the Khmer people and the temple was dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. Do not misunderstand the temple was built by the Hindu people.
If you wanna be smart please prove it that way but if you aren't you'd better shut up coz when you tried like this you are really a stupid asshole.
អានេះឆ្កួតសុទ្ធ ឆ្កួតជាងពួកអាវលឿងទៀតវើយ ... ថៃឆ្កួតទាំងអស់ចឹងក៏អីណឹង???
Just another propaganda by the siam. A last effort to cast some doubt of the origin of Preah Vihear.
This author, what kind a name is that? sounds like tis made up, a fake.
He or she is an idiot. Even the most common uneducated khmer or siam know the history of the khmer siam conflict.
it is good to know what cambodia's khmer empire have many major religions of the time, mainly hinduism then buddhism. the kings of angkors were mainly worshipping hinduism while some were preferred buddhism as well then. anyway, just to make clear, the adjective "hindu" temples or "buddhist" temples, etc is not necessary when referring to cambodian temple. we know it's a hindu or buddhist temple, so, it is better to say khmer temple or cambodian temple to distinguish it from those of siem or youn temple, you know!
It is my fucking toilet, pee there every time
All Khmer people know how to do is building great temples and pagodas, why don't they learn how to build relationships that foster unity among themselves? Must be a bunch of Stone Heads a kind of people. Now that I've insulted them, lets hear all the curses that will make the temples and pagodas rattle to pieces.
Ruined Khmer
I think these thai professor need to know more about cambodia history,don't just know a little and said you a lot that is bullsit.
This is the most stupid and ignorant editorial I ever heard. It is totally nonsense.
WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY,WHERE THE FUCK YOU COME FROM ASS HOLE !.GO TO STUDY KHMER'S HISTORY AND COME BACK TO THIS FORUM AGAIN!,THANK YOU MORON!!!!!.
this guy is having and ignorant brain kissing thai ass to get easy pay without digging the truth. Instead thailand should hand khmer back three more provinces and scupture that they took and display it in their palaces and musiem for touris to look at those are khmer scupture the IJC told them to return those scupture back to khmer but those morron thai ignore it how about that have you tell them give khmer property back to khmer and three more provinces they took it from us can you tell them return those back to khmer? if you do not know anything don't jump to conclusion thailand is the one who should hand back all khmer property and get out from khmer land. go back digging the truth not be ignorant like this shit. go back to digging out the history and rethinking again before you open you ignorant mouth telling khmer do this and that dump fuck ass.
ខ្មែរដឹងយល់ច្បាស់ពីពាក្យ ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ
ឬ ប្រាសាទព្រាហ្មណ៍(Prasat Preah Vihear
or Hindu Temple)។
ចាប់ពីសតវត្សទី១រហូតមកដល់ទី១២ ខ្មែរកាន់
លទ្ធិព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនា។ស្ដេចខ្មែរបានសាងប្រា
សាទនេះនៅលើខ្នងភ្នំដងរែក ដើម្បីសម្ដែងឬទ្ធិ
អំណាចព្រះអង្គជាស្ដេចមហាចក្រមហានគរ។
នៅក្នុងអាគារថ្មនេះមានរូប សិវៈនិងតំណាង
ព្រះអវតាផ្សងៗទៀត។
ដោយទីឋាននេះជាទីសក្ការៈនិងទីប្រសិទ្ធី
ស្ដេចខ្មែរជាច្រើនព្រះអង្គមកនោះ ក៏មានឈ្មោះ
ហៅថា ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារជាប់តមករហូតទល់
សព្វថ្ងៃនេះ។គឺស្ដេចខ្មែរនិងខ្មែរបានកសាង មិន
មែនថៃឬសៀមស្ថាបនាទេ។
6:33 AM
Most of us not able to read this comment, please translate it into English or French for our young generation of Khmer live outside Cambodia and also for the Khmer live under the foreigner occupations (Thai and Viet.)
Khmer or Cambodian people never coined the word Hindu temple and in fact the temple was named Preah Vihear temple! Why the fuck the Siem thuggish leaders still insisted on the name “Hindu temple”? It is because these fucken Siem thuggish leaders want to confuse the world over that it is not Khmer temple so the Khmer people can’t claim the ownership of the temple! Second, through out history and this is same old dirty classic tactic Siem thuggish leaders use over and over again to steal everything from Cambodia by renaming the people, land, and landmarks, animals, and the fruit in their favor as if Khmer people have nothing to show the world!
Khmer people must remain constant vigilance for any Siem thuggish and thievery behavior!
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